


Might have been

by neytah



Series: Fanfics I wrote at Summer Camp [8]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Genre: F/F, Love Triangle, Red Dragon Spoilers, femme!Will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 11:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/952343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neytah/pseuds/neytah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Willa returns to Washington, the past comes flowing back, in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Might have been

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Safe Harbor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/846411) by [artificer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificer/pseuds/artificer). 



> SPOILERS FOR RED DRAGON and will probably not make sense unless you've read the book  
> also if you're super-duper sqeemish don't read

Willa got the phone call on a Tuesday. It’d been a long day at the shop, working on the boats, and Willa had just sat down at the dinner table with Molly and little Willy. It was a delicious casserole, one of Molly’s specialties and one of Willa’s favorites. Then the phone rang. Molly went to get it, and the briefly argued with the person on the other end before handing it to Willa.

It was Jack Crawford.

And Willa was suddenly pulled back into her traumatic past.

Willa had heard about the murders. She’d read about them in the paper. The Jacobis’ murder, now the Leedses. She knew the FBI would be scrambling. But she’d hoped they wouldn’t bring her back.

They did.

Molly understands. Willa doesn’t want to leave her, and to stay in this Florida alcove forever, but with a sense of duty, as well as a hug from Willy and a kiss from her wife, Willa finds herself boarding a plane to Washington.

She’ll soon see familiar faces. Jack, Brian, Jimmy, Beverly. And Dr. Bloom. Dr. Alana Bloom.

Willa doesn’t expect to see her so soon. Later, among the others perhaps, but not here, in the airport, waiting for her. It creates a pang in Willa’s chest, bring back memories.

Willa remembers their first kiss. Standing in practically her underwear in her living room, telling Alana about an animal she’d heard. She’d felt like she was crazy then. She had been. And then she’d kissed Alana. And she kissed back. Even today, Willa can’t forget how magical it felt.

But, not only yards separate them, but years. Alana has aged, as has Willa, lines beginning to show on their faces. Alana’s married now. Has a little girl.

Alana greets Willa, and walks her outside, where a car waits for them. On the way to headquarters, Alana fills Willa in on what she knows of the case. No talk of the past, of might-have-beens. Willa is glad.

She’s known as Will here, the name she went by during her time with the FBI. She’s glad of that too. It separates her real life, as Willa, with Molly and Willy, from this nightmare she’s living as Will.

She’s brought into the case as if she never left. She takes plane after plane after plane, examining the Leedses’ house, then the Jacobis’. Willa tries to call Molly every night, assuring her that everything is going fine, and she is perfectly safe. Molly does her best to believe her.

As Will works on profiling the killer, time ticks. The ‘Tooth Fairy’, as he’s called, kills on the full moon. If Will doesn’t want another innocent family to die, she has to solve this fast. And the faster that happens, the sooner she can get back to Molly and Willy and normal life on the shore.

Things aren’t moving in the investigation. Every lead turns into a dead end, every suspect is disproved. Will can’t find the connection between the murders, and it keeps her up at night. Reluctantly, she seeks help in an old colleague: Hannibal Lecter. However, the visit bears no helpful fruit, but it prompts Will’s return to fame, in the form of Freddie Lounds and _The Tattler_. Will has scuffled with Freddie in the past, and Will wouldn't be as frustrated by it if she didn’t have Willy and Molly hearing these things. She hopes Freddie won’t find out about them. They don’t need to be involved. But this all leaves her mind when a new lead arises.

The Tooth Fairy has sent a letter to Hannibal Lecter. It had been found in Lecter’s cell, a section of it ripped out. While others begin searching for Lecter’s response, Alana is brought in to analyze the letter. She does her best to avoid eye contact, as does Will, both feeling the same emotions, reliving the same memories.

Will remembers when she was falsely accused of Hannibal’s crimes. Alana came to visit her. Will remembers Alana’s eyes, full of pain, of guilt. Full of love. She’s promised to take care of Will’s dogs until she was released. And in that moment, Will had never felt more in love.

They find Hannibal’s coded response. Unable to decode it fast enough, they decide to run the personal ad anyway. This message is later decoded and Will’s heart drops.

_Graham home Marathon, Florida. Save yourself. Kill them all._

And now, her two precariously placed worlds have collided. And nothing will ever be the same.

They fly Molly and Willy out to Washington as fast as possible. They find them refuge in Crawford’s brother’s home. Will is sure they’re safe now. But she can feel the tension between her and Molly. Molly misses the waves of their hometown, she hates the bright lights of Washington, and the daunting threat of the "Tooth Fairy" doesn’t help. Will takes Molly to the range, teaches her how to use a gun. She hates it.

After a high-profile prank call, Freddie makes a deal with the FBI. Will agrees to have Freddie interview her, telling both truth and lies, in exchange for Freddie working with them to catch the killer. They stage a stakeout, with Will as bait. Molly is scared for her, but Will knows this is something she must do.

The plan backfires.

Freddie is rolled down the street by their office building, burning, glued to a wheelchair. She’s rushed into intensive care, but it’s clear she only has hours. Will stands by as Freddie dies, her boyfriend holding her charred hand. Alana is there too. She reaches for Will’s hand. She pulls it away.

Molly decides it’s better to go stay with her parents in Oregon. Will doesn’t try to stop her. She knows it best. She can feel their relationship deteriorating. And she hates it.

Will stays up that night, examining the case, drinking to dull the pain. It’s about midnight when she finds herself calling Alana, babbling about the case. Soon, Alana is at her door. Taking the bottle from Will’s hand, laying her down in bed. Will continues to babble, about the case, about Molly, about the past. Alana takes Will’s hand and stays with her until she falls asleep. When Will wakes up, she’s gone.

It’s a week till the full moon.

It’s when Will is sitting in a courtroom with Crawford, rewatching the home films of the victims, when it hits her.

It’s the tapes. Both tapes were developed at Gateway. That’s the connection.

They rush to Gateway, and are soon enough filing through employee records. They narrow it down to one man. Francis Dolarhyde.

At the end of it all, Francis Dolarhyde is dead. Reba McClane, the young woman who was in Dolarhyde’s burning home, is shaken up, but fine.

Will feels relieved. It’s over. She can go back home, rebuild her life with Molly, live without fear. And she does.

Will and Molly have few weeks off once they get back. Everyone is reeling from the past month’s events, but finally, Willa can put her life back together.

On the last weekend before work starts again, the three of them go out fishing. Willy brings fishing lures he got from his grandfather in Oregon. It’s peaceful. Calm. For once, Willa feels happy.

Until she hears footsteps.

Francis Dolarhyde is upon her now, raising his knife, prepared to strike. Molly is screaming, telling Willy to run. Willa feels searing pain and the knife plunges through her cheek. Still screaming, Molly swings her fishing pole at Dolarhyde, the hook catching his cheek. He pushes the knife deeper into Willa’s scull, intent to kill. She hears a gun go off.

Molly has shot Francis Dolarhyde.

Willa’s in the hospital for over a month. She has gained yet another scar from a serial killer. Some say she’s lucky. She’s not lucky at all.

Alana comes to see her. Willa turns her away.

She doesn’t need a reminder of the future she didn’t have.


End file.
